A freckled tomato

When those from the shadows try to go into the sunlight, it can only result in one thing. Sun burning. Why do we never learn? Or above all, why do I never learn? Today I spent my free day on the beach and got myself burned quite badly. It’s strange, usually I can feel when I need to put on more sun lotion but today it caught me totally off guard. I have been taking sun before here not even using sun lotion every time, and I haven’t seen any signs of getting sun burned. But of course this is because I have only been taking sun in the morning or afternoon, so the sunlight has not been as strong as it was today when I returned to the beach after lunch. Oh well, at least I have a color on my face now. It’s just red when I was hoping for something quite different. But at least you can see my freckles now, I’m excited about that. Do you see them? They basically cover my face completely under my eyes, yey.

And I can feel that it’s passing now, I had luck this time. But I won’t dare my body’s tolerance and take sun for a while. For once I’m happy that I only have one free day a week, so I can’t try anything this stupid too soon again. I just hope the redness will ease until tomorrow noon when I have work again. I don’t want to look like a tomato even though I find myself in the promised land of tomatoes!

Lately I’ve realized that infidelity is alarmingly common in Italy. Here people accept that their girl- or boyfriend flirting with other people, even making suggestions. I got a strange message from the boyfriend of one of my friends here and I dreaded telling my friend about it. I thought I would destroy her. Instead she just chuckled and said that he sends strange messages to all her friends. In her opinion it’s a cry for attention. It might be that she has a point, but isn’t still crossing the line? Once again I found myself incredibly grateful of having a great boyfriend who shares my opinion about line crossing.

I remember reading about Hofstede’s cultural dimensions during my culture classes in Finland, but also in Castellanza last year during my exchange. One of the main cultural difference issues was handling uncertainty. Some cultures just can’t handle uncertainty. I think Finland is one of the top countries in this.

Here in Lignano though, uncertainty is an everyday factor. My working hours are uncertain, the fact that I might have to switch room is uncertain, the fact that I might have to take a course in celiac disease for my job (since a group of hotel guests coming for a celiac disease convention are arriving the 30th is uncertain. I think I have dealt with uncertainty quite well here. Since I arrived I have just realized that flexibility here is a must and I just have to put up with it. But every now and then, me being a Finn pops up because I get annoyed at the uncertainty of things. Here it’s basically impossible to make plans, seeing as you never know when you’re free and when not. But I only have to tolerate this for another month, so I accept it.